Blair drawn into Labour cash storm

By Andy McSmith, Political Correspondent

12:00AM BST 17 Oct 2000

GEOFFREY ROBINSON, the former Paymaster General, was deserted by old political allies yesterday after his memoirs threatened to drag Tony Blair personally into allegations of sleaze at the heart of the Labour Government.

In a show of government solidarity, even Mr Robinson's former political patron, Gordon Brown, condemned his decision to tell all, while Downing Street and the Labour Party both disputed the millionaire MP's claim that he had donated money to Mr Blair's office.

In a speech tonight, William Hague, the Tory leader, will call for a public inquiry to establish who is telling the truth amid the claims and counter-claims.

In his memoirs, Mr Robinson, who has not been recalled to any government post, accused Mr Mandelson, now Northern Ireland Secretary, of trying to "offload the blame". He described him as a "bad influence" and a "destabilising element" in the Cabinet.

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Mr Mandelson had a brief meeting with Mr Blair early yesterday morning to discuss developments in Ireland. Afterwards, Downing Street dismissed Mr Robinson's allegations as "pretty flat froth" and made it clear that the Prime Minister accepted Mr Mandelson's version of what had happened.

Mr Robinson also found himself abandoned by the man who gave him his government job and protected him the first time that Mr Blair wanted to sack him. A spokesman said: "Gordon Brown made clear on numerous occasions both in public and to Geoffrey Robinson that it was not appropriate to write this book."

Despite years of bitter rivalry between the Chancellor and the Northern Ireland Secretary, the spokesman added: "Mr Mandelson has been doing - and will continue to do - an excellent job as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland."

He said Mr Brown was still "on friendly terms" with Mr Robinson despite being "disappointed" that his advice had not been followed. Mr Mandelson yesterday repeated his claim that Mr Robinson originated the idea of the loan. He said: "As a friend of many years' standing, he volunteered his financial help if needed. I later took him up on his offer and I was grateful to him. I gave a full, faithful and factual account to the House of Commons standards committee, as did Geoffrey himself. They accepted it and I regard the matter as closed."

The Tories tried to shift the focus of the row on to Mr Robinson's claim that he had been "happy" to give financial support to Mr Blair's political office. This appeared to contradict flat denials made a year ago by Lady Jay, the Labour peer who headed the "blind trust" that handled donations to Mr Blair's office when he was leader of the opposition.

During that time, Mr Robinson gave large sums, believed to total £250,000, to the Labour Party. A party spokesman said this was not passed on directly to the leader's office. Mr Hague will say in a speech to the Carlton Club tonight: "The devastating revelations from Geoffrey Robinson confirm what the British people have long started to suspect: this Labour Government is a rotten government and the rot starts at the top.

"We have evidence of a cover-up with New Labour's crony-in-chief, Geoffrey Robinson, saying that he did give money to Tony Blair's blind trust, in flat contradiction to trustee Baroness Jay. There is only one person responsible for the fact that Geoffrey Robinson ever held high office in our country and that Peter Mandelson still does - and that person is Tony Blair. He needs to make an immediate declaration as to who is telling the truth."

However, Mr Robinson said last night: "The words 'blind trust' should not be attributed to me. I never said what he is saying I said." A Labour Party spokesman said: "William Hague cannot see a bandwagon without jumping on it, without looking where it is going."

Despite animosities within the Cabinet, the latest opinion poll suggests that Labour has recovered from the petrol crisis and regained much of its lost lead over the Tories. Today's Guardian/ICM poll puts Labour on 40 per cent, the Conservatives 35 per cent and the Liberal Democrats 19 per cent.